Chapter 6: The Price of Silence
Desmond crossed the hallway slowly.
“What did you give her?” he asked.
Isolde stepped between us.
“A receipt for the earrings.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“You taught me how.”
His hand closed around her elbow.
She pulled free.
I held up the folded paper.
“Suite 814.
What’s waiting there, Desmond?”
“A hotel room.
Isolde and I used it for meetings.”
“You called them strategy retreats.”
“They were strategy.”
Isolde gave a bitter laugh.
“Was I part of the strategy, or just the person whose name you put on the invoices?”
Desmond lowered his voice.
“Think carefully before you answer.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s advice.
Wren will discard you the moment you’re no longer useful.”
I stepped closer.
“Open the suite for the forensic accountant.”
Desmond smiled.
“You no longer have authority.”
“No.
But the hotel can preserve its access records.”
His expression tightened.
Celeste came through the boardroom door.
“Wren, wait.”
I kept walking until she caught my arm.
“Please listen,” she said.
“Desmond told me those payments were bridge loans.
He said you had approved them but wanted distance from the paperwork.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“You wanted his board seat.”
Her eyes filled.
“I wanted one thing in my life that didn’t come through you.”
“You signed away employee savings to get it.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Celeste recoiled as if I had raised my hand.
“You sound exactly like Mother,” she whispered.
“She chose you every time, then asked why I stopped coming home.”
My breath caught.
“She didn’t choose me.
She loaded her responsibilities onto me and called it trust.”
“At least she called you.”
The elevator doors opened, but neither of us moved.
Celeste wiped her cheek.
“The night she went into the hospital, she phoned you first.”
“I was in London.”
“She phoned me afterward.
I let it ring because I was angry with her.”
“Celeste—”
“She was gone by morning.
So when Desmond said you had approved those transfers, I signed because believing him was easier than calling you and hearing your voice.”
My knees gave way against the wall.
Mara, waiting near the elevators, caught my hand.
“Sit down,” she said.
Celeste covered her mouth as tears ran down her face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I wanted to hurt you.
I didn’t know I was helping him hurt hundreds of other people.”
Mara crouched in front of us.
“Then stop helping him.”
Celeste reached into her handbag and removed a small recorder.
“He called me last night,” she said.
“He told me to delete every message and leave Boston.”
“Did you record him?” I asked.
She nodded.
“But that isn’t all.
He said he had someone inside Ardent.”
I looked at Mara.
“Account 0417.”
“Someone created it using your identity documents,” Mara said.
Celeste pressed play.
Desmond’s voice filled the hallway: “Once the server is gone, Wren will carry the blame.
You will say she ordered everything.”
Another voice answered him.
It belonged to my chief financial officer, Fletcher Vale.
Then Fletcher said the words that made all three of us freeze.
May you like
“I moved the acquisition money through her account.
By tomorrow, Ardent itself will look insolvent.”
